It is the first for me…
I suspect there’s one factor that skews federal pay data considerably: minority hiring. There are numerous affirmative action programs in place for federal employers, which means there are more minority employees working for the federal government (this is true in state government, too, at least in Florida). Since there is less salary discrimination in federal employment, federal employees as a whole may appear overpaid relative to the private sector.
I don’t think anyone is asserting that federal employees are grossly underpaid. The question is whether they are slightly underpaid, as federal employees would tell you, or grossly overpaid, as conservatives would tell you.
barbitu8 writes:
> It would be impossible to predict how any portfolio will do.
Then it’s impossible to tell whether the CSRS with additional contributions to the Thrift Savings Program is better or worse than the FERS with additional employee contributions.
MrPeabody writes:
> If I was due a 215% raise I think I would walk out the door and into the first
> comparable employment.
Nobody is claiming that the difference is remotely that large. The usual arguments are whether the government and private industry, with or without including benefits, are 20% or so different in salaries. There are many variables to consider - different career paths, different locations, different kind of benefits, different working hours, different chances of being downsized, etc. It’s hard to do the calculations.
Under FERS the govt matches up to 6%. IIRC CSRS allows only 1%. IMHO a larger portfolio is a good thing. The pension under FERS is smaller but that is overweighted by the greater stock holdings. The pivotal point for me was the 30 years of SS earnings negating the offset.